


i'll hold you in my heart (till i can hold you in my arms)

by aelandair



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Reunions, Texting, and yearning, so much yearning and so much softness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27196498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aelandair/pseuds/aelandair
Summary: "Otabek feels his heart clench in his chest. His fingers twitch, itching to reach out and touch Yuri, to tuck the strand of hair that has fallen in his face back behind his ear. But there are over three thousand kilometers of distance between them, and all he can do is reverently touch the screen of his phone and count the days until he leaves for St. Petersburg."(long distance relationships can be hard, but they make it work)
Relationships: Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky
Comments: 7
Kudos: 41
Collections: Otayuri Week 2020





	i'll hold you in my heart (till i can hold you in my arms)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Otayuri week! This is written for both day 1 prompts: Long Distance & Reunion.

_ Yuri sent you a video!  _

_ Yuri:  _ Victor said I couldn’t do a backflip on the ice so obviously I had to do one and prove him wrong 

_ Yuri:  _ and i even managed to land on one foot! It looks so cool 

_ Otabek:  _ It does look cool. Isn’t it dangerous though? Please be careful

_ Yuri:  _ awww are you worried about me?

_ Yuri:  _ i probably won’t do it again anyway, i mean it’s not allowed in competitions so why bother 

_ Yuri:  _ Yakov nearly had a heart attack when he saw me lol 

_ Otabek:  _ Understandable.

_ Yuri:  _ don’t be such a spoilsport beka

_ Yuri:  _ oh, btw, i showed him the music you sent me and he says i can use it for my short program! 

_ Otabek:  _ That’s great! 

_ Yuri:  _ it is! i like skating to something you chose 

_ Yuri: _ makes me feel closer to you 

_ Otabek:  _ <3 

_ Otabek:  _ That’s unusually sweet of you, did something happen? 

_ Yuri:  _ ugh i think victor’s sappiness is beginning to rub off on me 

_ Yuri:  _ and i miss you, so there’s that 

_ Otabek:  _ I miss you too, Yura 

_ Yuri:  _ <3 

_ Yuri:  _ gotta go now, mila is needling me about why i’m smiling at my phone instead of training, annoying hag 

_ Yuri:  _ let’s skype later? 

_ Otabek:  _ Looking forward to it :) Good luck with training 

***

When Otabek comes home from training later in the day, soaked with sweat and absolutely exhausted, a package is waiting for him in front of his door. It’s heavy, and he deposits it on the kitchen counter before snapping a picture of it and sending it to Yuri. 

He doesn’t wait for a response, because he knows Yuri must still be at the rink. Instead, he draws himself a nice, hot bath. He deserves it, he thinks, after such an excruciating day. Every part of his body hurts, muscles he didn’t even realize he had burning with exertion. He puts on some soft instrumental music and lets himself relax into the hot water, breathing a sigh of relief. 

When his fingers are pruney and the water is getting cold, Otabek gets out of the bath and pads back into the kitchen with a towel slung low around his waist. His phone is still where he left it, except that it’s blinking at him, telling him he has a new message. 

_ Yuri:  _ FUCKING FINALLY! I’ll be home soon, can’t wait to open mine omg 

Otabek smiles at the message, then glances at the package again. 

They’d sent the little care packages to each other at the same time, but Yuri’s arrived about a week ago, and they’d agreed to open them together. Otabek can’t imagine how rough that must have been for Yuri. Now that the package has arrived, he wants to rip it open immediately to find out what Yuri has sent him. 

But he still has to wait a little longer, so he gets dressed and makes dinner, and then settles down on the couch to mindlessly watch some Reality TV until his phone gives a quiet  _ ping _ about an hour later. 

_ Yuri:  _ home now, ready when you are :) 

The message makes him smile, and Otabek turns off the TV to get his laptop and the package. Yuri accepts the Skype call almost immediately. 

“Beka!” he says enthusiastically. 

Otabek can’t help the way he grins back, the way his heart clenches in his chest. Yuri’s hair is still wet and unruly, and his face is flushed either from the shower or excitement. He looks, as always, beautiful, even though he’s slightly pixelated, and Otabek would give everything to be near him right now. 

“Hi, Yura,” he greets, and Yuri’s smile widens at the nickname. 

Yuri picks up the package from his bed to show it to the camera, and shakes it around a little. 

“Thank fuck yours finally arrived. It was  _ agonizing _ to have this thing just sitting around all week. I swear, if this thing would have taken any longer to arrive, I would have opened mine without you,” Yuri grumbles. 

“Well, it’s here now. Believe it or not, I was getting impatient, too.” 

Yuri raises an eyebrow at him, teasing. “What, you? Impatient?” 

Otabek sighs, looking at the screen longingly, Yuri so many kilometers away from him.

“Yes. Impatient.” 

They take a moment to just look at each other in silence, and it hurts somewhere deep in his chest, the way Yuri’s whole face softens sometimes, and the fact that it’s all for Otabek. 

A loud  _ meow _ interrupts the moment, and Otabek snorts as Yuri jumps in surprise. Only seconds later, Potya hops onto Yuri’s bed and starts sniffing at his laptop, her face very close to the camera, almost filling up the entire screen. 

“Fuck, Potya, go away. Don’t you see that I’m busy?” Yuri chastises her, but he sounds fond and amused. 

He lifts her into his lap and holds her there, and then looks up at the camera, at Otabek, again. 

“So? You ready? Can we open these damn packages now?”

Otabek nods, pulls the box close and starts cutting at the tape at the same time as Yuri. There’s anticipation tingling in his stomach. He’s been really excited for this - to have a small collection of things Yuri picked out just for him, something to tide him over until his next visit. He misses Yuri every day, and he hopes this will make it a bit better. 

He opens the package, and the first thing he sees is black fabric. His eyes widen, and he grips the item carefully, pulling it out to examine it closely. 

It’s a black shirt, one of the soft, oversized ones Yuri wears to sleep. It’s big enough to fit Otabek, and… 

He brings the shirt to his face, buries his face in the fabric and inhales deeply. Despite the time it has been bunched up inside of a cardboard box, it smells like Yuri. The scent is so strong that it’s almost overwhelming. It reminds Otabek of nights spent wrapped around each other under a blanket, his nose in Yuri’s hair, their bodies warm and close together. The memory almost makes him tear up, and he blushes, embarrassed, because he’s so emotional over a damn shirt. 

But when he looks up at his screen again, Yuri having gone suspiciously quiet, he realizes he’s not the only emotional one. Otabek had, of course, included one of his shirts too, an old, washed out band shirt that Yuri likes to steal from him. 

Yuri has his face buried in the shirt, and his shoulders are shaking slightly. 

“Yura? Are you alright?” Otabek asks, surprised as his voice comes out all scratchy. 

Yuri makes a miserable sound in the back of his throat. When he looks up again, his eyes look faintly red. 

“Fuck you, of course I’m not alright!” he growls.

Otabek can’t help but laugh, and Yuri glares at him. 

“That’s not funny, asshole. Fuck, I miss you so much.” 

And that, the sadness in Yuri’s voice, in his face: Otabek feels it too. It makes his heart break a little bit to see Yuri like this. 

“I miss you too,” he mumbles, and sniffs the shirt again, almost involuntarily. 

Yuri chuckles wetly. Potya meows at him, and he drops a hand to pet her absentmindedly. Otabek starts rifling through the box, carefully observing everything Yuri has sent him. 

There’s a box of the tea he likes to drink when he’s in Russia, the one they always buy at the corner store near Yuri’s apartment, and a whole bunch of sweets from the same store that he technically isn’t allowed to eat, but will indulge in anyway. Yuri has also, amazingly, made him a mixtape. The sight of it makes him grin so wide his face hurts. The CD has little hearts drawn all over it, and there’s a handwritten list of terribly cheesy love songs on the back cover. There’s also a small bear plushie on a keychain, and a framed picture of them. He hasn’t seen the picture before, but that doesn’t surprise him; Yuri has his phone out all the time and snaps pictures nonstop whenever they’re together. This one is simple, and intimate. They’re in Otabek’s bed, he recognizes the pillowcase they’re lying on. Otabek has his arm around Yuri, and they’re both smiling, the light low, their cheeks red. Yuri’s hair is strewn around the pillow, a few strands in Otabek’s face, because that’s inevitable, and their cheeks are pressed close together while Yuri raises his hand to take the photo from above. Otabek remembers that Yuri had taken a whole bunch of selfies, most of them simple and cute like this one, some more silly, with them pulling faces at the camera. After, they’d kissed, lazy and sleepy, until they couldn’t keep their eyes open anymore. 

Otabek smiles fondly at the memory, and then watches as Yuri goes through his package. He seems to be happy, and that’s a bigger relief than Otabek would like to admit. He’d been worried, initially, that the things he sent Yuri would be stupid or inane, but that doesn’t seem to be the case 

Yuri groans, wrapping the shirt around his shoulders like a shawl. It looks hilarious, and Otabek has to bite his lip to keep from laughing. 

“Fuck, Beka. This is perfect, thank you,” Yuri mumbles, eyes averted, face red. He seems embarrassed, the way he sometimes is when he’s talking about feelings. It’s a cute look on him. 

“I’m glad you like it,” Otabek says with a smile. 

Yuri snorts, and Potya jumps from his lap, scared away by the loud noise. 

“Of course I like it. Do you like your things too?” Yuri looks unsure all of a sudden, glancing away again. “I wasn’t really sure about what to send you, so I just-” 

“Yura,” Otabek interrupts him, and grins at the camera, wide and happy. “I love it. I love  _ you _ .” 

He can’t be sure, because the camera quality isn’t the best, and his internet connection chooses this exact moment to turn to shit, but he could swear that Yuri blushes a bright shade of red. His smile is so wide it’s almost blinding, and Otabek feels his heart accelerate. 

“Love you too, you old sap,” Yuri says, and Otabek knows he means it. 

***

_ Yuri:  _ whyyyy are victor and katsuki so disgusting

_ Yuri:  _ I swear, every time I turn around they’re making out or gazing into each other’s eyes or some other sappy shit

_ Yuri:  _ just. ew. 

_ Yuri:  _ god i hate pda so much

_ Otabek:  _ You literally posted a picture of us kissing on Instagram yesterday. 

_ Yuri:  _ yes but it’s different when it’s us, we’re adorable

_ Yuri:  _ can’t wait for you to visit so we can make out around the rink all the time

_ Yuri:  _ payback’s a bitch 

_ Otabek:  _ I’m not sure I want to make out in front of Victor. Or Yakov. 

_ Yuri:  _ ugh you’re no fun beka :( 

_ Otabek:  _ We can make out somewhere else, though

_ Otabek:  _ I would very much like that ;) 

_ Yuri:  _ hmmmm 

_ Yuri:  _ ok, deal 

_ Otabek:  _ 👍

***

When Otabek steps out of the shower in the morning, he’s in an unusually good mood. It probably has to do with the fact that he has the day off. He plans to spend it walking around the city with his older sister, catching up and maybe getting something to eat later on. It’s been a while since they’ve seen each other, and he’s looking forward to it. 

Before he gets dressed, he snaps a picture of himself in the mirror, his skin still flushed from the shower, chest on full display, smirk curling his lips. It cuts off at his hip bones; low enough that it’s obvious he’s not wearing any clothes, but not low enough to be truly incriminating. He sends it to Yuri, adds a quick  _ miss you ;),  _ and then he gets ready to leave. 

It’s a warm day, spring on the verge of turning into summer, and it’s nice to get to spend some time with his sister. They’re out much longer than he’d anticipated, and by the time he gets back to his apartment, the sky is turning dark, and he feels properly exhausted. 

He has barely checked his phone all day, and when he does now, he sees he has multiple messages from Yuri. Opening them, Otabek can’t help but smirk. 

_ Yuri:  _ FUCK 

_ Yuri:  _ that’s fucking unfair, i have to  _ practice  _

_ Yuri:  _ ughhhh beka seriously why are you so hot 

Otabek snorts, then reads the last message, sent about half an hour ago.

_ Yuri:  _ i’m home now hmu when you have time to talk 

And, well. Otabek certainly isn’t the sort of person to just pass up an opportunity like this when his boyfriend seems so eager. He wastes no time FaceTiming Yuri, and Yuri picks up after the first ring. 

He’s glaring, cheeks red, and Otabek laughs. 

“I hate you  _ so much _ sometimes,” Yuri grumbles. 

Otabek laughs some more. “Well, if you hate me so much, I guess I can just go now…” 

He moves to put his phone away, stopped by Yuri’s indignant sputtering. 

“Fuck, no, you  _ bastard,  _ come back!” 

“Okay, since you’re asking so nicely,” he says, voice teasing, and grins when Yuri scowls. 

They’re quiet for a moment, and Otabek takes the time to make himself comfortable on his bed, careful to keep his phone angled right. 

“Seriously, though. Fuck,” Yuri says suddenly, and he sounds slightly breathless. 

Otabek tilts his head. “What?” 

“You can’t just send me a pic like that in the morning! Mila was laughing at me because I fell on my ass during practice so many times, it was embarassing as fuck. I’ve been distracted and horny all day!”

The way he says it, all whining and pitiful, makes Otabek snort with laughter again. He isn’t exactly sorry, and it makes warm arousal curl low in his stomach, to know that he affects Yuri like this. 

Yuri pouts at him. 

“This isn’t funny!” 

“It kind of is,” Otabek says, and then Yuri snorts too. 

“Okay, maybe it is a little bit funny,” he admits, grinning, face still red. 

They sit in silence again for a moment. It’s nothing unusual, and it isn’t uncomfortable. Otabek likes that about Yuri, about their relationship, that they can just sit together without saying anything, and it’s enough. It makes him feel pleasantly warm and happy, the knowledge that Yuri is as comfortable around him as he is around Yuri, that together, they can just  _ be. _

The quiet they settle into is peaceful. 

And maybe that’s why it surprises him so much when, suddenly, Yuri pulls his shirt off over his head and throws it into the far corner of his room. 

Otabek blanches, struck speechless by the sight of Yuri’s bare chest, his pale, unblemished skin, torso slender but strong. He swallows, watches with wide eyes as Yuri grins at him suggestively, throwing his hair over his shoulder with a wink. Otabek wants nothing more than to press a kiss to that shoulder. He’s breathing faster now, and he can’t do anything to control the heat coiling in his gut. 

“Anyway,” Yuri says, and he sounds so smug, so self-satisfied at catching Otabek off-guard like this. “I’m going to jerk off now. You wanna join or not?” 

“Fuck yes,” Otabek says, frantic. 

He doesn’t think he has ever stripped his clothes off this fast in his entire life.

***

The next day, when he takes a break during training and checks his phone, he is greeted by one of Yuri’s artfully composed nudes. Otabek swallows, throat dry, feeling awfully hot all of a sudden. He has to try exceedingly hard to stop thinking about the picture lest he find himself in a very embarrassing situation, and it takes more effort than he would like to admit to stay focused for the remainder of the day. 

Yuri was right. 

It  _ is  _ unfair, and payback really is bitch. 

***

_ Yuri sent you a picture!  _

_ Yuri:  _ BEKA look at this adorable picture i found of a cat hugging a teddy bear!!!

_ Yuri:  _ it’s so adorable 

_ Yuri:  _ this will be us when you come to visit

_ Otabek:  _ Adorable 

_ Yuri:  _ also good morning i guess 

_ Otabek:  _ Good morning 

_ Otabek:  _ Isn’t it like 3am over there? Why are you still awake? 

_ Yuri:  _ couldn’t sleep, not feeling great i guess, idk why 

_ Otabek:  _ That sucks. I have to go now, but I’ll call you as soon as I can, okay? Please take care of yourself. If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know! 

_ Yuri:  _ ok 

_ Otabek:  _ I love you, zhanym.

_ Yuri:  _ love you too you sap 

***

“Have you ever heard about Acroyoga?” 

Otabek huffs. “No, I haven’t. And I don’t think I’m going to like it, considering it has to do with yoga.” 

Yuri laughs, and Otabek listens to the sounds of him walking around, getting ready. They’re just talking over the phone, and Yuri has him on speaker, and Otabek sort of wishes he could see what Yuri is doing, or, better yet, be there with him.

“I’ll send you some videos later, it looks really cool. It’s just two people doing yoga together. It looks amazing.” 

Otabek hums, noncommittal. It’s no secret that he isn’t flexible at all, and that he hates yoga with a burning passion. The only thing that’s worse than yoga is ballet. Yuri loves to tease him about it, and tries to rope Otabek into doing yoga with him every time they’re together, contorting himself into fascinating and sort of scary positions until Otabek either relents and tries, or jumps him. 

“I know exactly what face you’re making right now. Come on, we’ll try it when you visit. You can be the base, you don’t even have to be flexible for that, just strong enough to hold me up. It’ll be fun.”

“If you say so,” Otabek grumbles. He’s not entirely convinced, but he supposes it won’t hurt to at least look it up later. 

Yuri laughs at him again, then groans. 

“Remind me again why I agreed to go out with Mila tonight?” he whines, and Otabek can imagine the face he’s pulling, and it makes him smile. 

“Because she’s your friend, and as much as you like to complain about it, you actually enjoy going out with her?” 

Yuri groans again, louder. “Why are you always right?”

Otabek doesn’t answer that, just tries to stifle his laugh. He has his laptop out in front of him, his newest mix maybe half done and waiting for him to get back to work. 

Yuri sighs again, resigned. 

“Well, I have to leave now. I’ll send you pictures or something. Good luck with your music. I’ll text you when I get back?” 

“Yes, do that. And have fun.”

“I will,” Yuri says, and it sounds much more pouty than it probably should. 

After they hang up, Yuri sends him a picture of his outfit. He looks stunning, as always. Otabek isn’t sure if it’s even possible for Yuri to not look absolutely beautiful. He’s wearing tight, shiny black leather pants and a black off-shoulder shirt with long sleeves, paired with his leopard print boots and a leather jacket. His long hair is tied up, showing off his neck and shoulders, and he’s smirking at the camera. Otabek sends him back a thumbs up emoji and Yuri responds with a heart. 

Smiling, Otabek plays the track he’s working on from the beginning. He can’t seem to get Yuri out of his head, though. Maybe they can go out to a club when he visits Yuri. The thought of dancing with Yuri makes him unexpectedly excited, and he keeps it in mind as he gets back to working on his music. 

***

_ Otabek:  _ I just bought my plane ticket ;)

_ Yuri:  _ !!!!!! 

_ Yuri:  _ fuck yes i’m so excited!!! 

_ Otabek:  _ Me too :) 

_ Otabek:  _ Can’t wait to see you again

_ Yuri:  _ ahhhh you fucking sap :) 

_ Otabek:  _ You keep saying that but you’re just as bad as me ;) 

_ Yuri:  _ lies! slander! 

_ Otabek:  _ … 

_ Otabek:  _ May I remind you of the story highlight you put together on Instagram titled “<3” that’s just pictures of us? 

_ Otabek:  _ May I remind you of the Twitter thread you posted the night you went out with Mila that’s literally just you whining about how much you miss me? 

_ Otabek:  _ I could go on. 

_ Yuri:  _ please don’t

_ Yuri:  _ fuck fine maybe you’re right and i’m a little bit sappy too

_ Otabek:  _ Right, just a little. 

_ Yuri:  _ careful, altin 

_ Yuri:  _ if you keep teasing i might get angry

_ Otabek:  _ Haha ok I’ll stop 

_ Otabek:  _ But just so you know, I think it’s really cute. 

_ Yuri:  _ does it make you blush when i talk about you on social media? 

_ Otabek:  _ … maybe 

_ Yuri:  _ >:) 

_ Yuri:  _ you’re cute when you blush 

_ Otabek:  _ I’m blushing right now

_ Otabek sent a picture! _

_ Yuri:  _ adorable

_ Otabek:  _ You’re much more adorable than I am 

_ Yuri:  _ i’m not adorable i’m a fierce tiger 

_ Otabek:  _ …

_ Yuri:  _ shut up 

_ Otabek:  _ I didn’t say anything 

_ Otabek:  _ For real though, I can’t wait to visit you. I miss you so much, Yura 

_ Yuri:  _ i miss you too beka 

_ Yuri:  _ when you get here we’ll go on a proper date, ok? 

_ Yuri:  _ go to a restaurant, then maybe to the cinema or something, share popcorn

_ Otabek:  _ Make out in the back row and ignore the movie? 

_ Yuri:  _ you know me so well (¬‿¬)

_ Otabek:  _ I try ;) 

_ Yuri:  _ there’s this new ice cream place that opened up near the rink, we have to go there too

_ Yuri:  _ and to the park, i still wanna try acroyoga with you but if we do it at home we’ll definitely kick something over, or potya will jump us or something 

_ Otabek:  _ You just want me to publicly humiliate myself 

_ Yuri:  _ how dare you, i would  _ never _

_ Otabek:  _ Just so you know, I’m rolling my eyes at you right now

_ Yuri:  _ lol yes i thought so 

_ Otabek:  _ But apart from the yoga thing this all sounds very nice :) 

_ Yuri:  _ yes it does :) 

***

It’s way too late. 

Otabek’s eyes feel heavy, and he has to wake up in less than four hours, and he knows that he’ll be dead on his feet tomorrow, knows that he’ll probably fuck up all of his jumps during trainung and stumble over his own feet. 

He knows he should just go to sleep. 

But he doesn’t want to stop talking to Yuri. 

It’s late in Russia too, and Yuri is in bed already, laying on his side, face buried in his pillow, hair a mess and cheeks rosy. Otabek must look pretty similar, except he thinks his eyes are worse because they’re properly burning by now. He still can’t bring himself to close them for even a moment. The sight of Yuri, all comfortable and sleepy, is one he doesn’t want to miss. 

Yuri is listening attentively as Otabek tells him about a club he played at last week, and some of the projects he’s working on right now. He’s thinking about writing Yuri another song, but is worried that it will be too sappy, too embarrassing, just all around too much. Maybe he’ll write it about Yuri and skate to it himself next season. He doesn’t know yet. 

“How’s your free skate coming along?” Yuri asks after they’ve fallen silent for a while, voice so quiet the phone almost doesn’t pick it up. 

Otabek makes a vague grunting noise. 

“Could be better. Still working on the jumps. I wanted to try a quad Lutz, but at the moment it doesn’t look like I’ll get it right in time, so I have to think about what I could do instead.” 

Yuri hums. 

“If you get that quad Lutz right, you’ll definitely win the Grand Prix this year. Your program is already difficult as hell. Fuck, you probably don’t even need that quad to win. I’m not sure if I should be supportive or jealous,” he muses.

It makes Otabek laugh, makes him feel proud, and a little bashful, and very warm inside. 

“Maybe a little bit of both,” he says, and Yuri chuckles. 

“Show it to me when you get here. Maybe I can give you some tips,” Yuri offers. 

“You can’t land a quad Lutz either, though.” 

Yuri huffs out a laugh. “Then show it to Victor, he’ll help.” 

Otabek nods, then yawns. He can’t help it, he really is extremely tired. Yuri yawns too, and then giggles as Potya crawls up to rest against his chest, nudging his chin with her nose before turning and meowing at the phone. Otabek giggles too, something he wouldn’t do if he weren’t nearly delirious with fatigue. 

“She misses you,” Yuri mumbles as he nudges Potya back, scratching between her ears until she purrs happily. Then his eyes soften impossibly more, and he says, voice barely more than a whisper. “I miss you too.” 

Otabek feels his heart clench in his chest. His fingers twitch, itching to reach out and touch Yuri, to tuck the strand of hair that has fallen in his face back behind his ear. But there are over three thousand kilometers of distance between them, and all he can do is reverently touch the screen of his phone and count the days until he leaves for St. Petersburg. 

“I miss you too, Yura. So much, fuck,” Otabek breathes, desperation and heartache making his throat feel tight. 

Yuri chuckles, but it also sounds sad. 

“You almost never swear.” 

Otabek nods, and his eyes burn for a different reason now. He tugs the bear plushie he keeps in his bed closer to his chest, wishes the shirt Yuri sent him would still smell like him. Most of the time, they can deal with being apart. It sucks, of course, but they’re both so busy with their training that it’s bearable. But sometimes, in moments like this one, when they haven’t been near each other in months, it hurts so damn much. He can’t think straight with how much he misses Yuri, how much he longs to hold him close again. 

Not for the first time, Otabek wishes things were different, but he knows that’s not an option. Not right now, not yet. Maybe someday they’ll be able to live closer to each other, if things work out between them, if their careers allow it. It’s a nice dream. For now, this has to be enough: Calls and text messages and visits whenever they can get away with it. 

“I just… fuck, I really wish I could be with you right now,” he says, and Yuri nods. His eyes look red too. 

Otabek tries to compose himself somewhat, takes a deep breath. He notices once again how tired he is. He closes his eyes, and finds he doesn’t have the strength to open them again. 

“Yura,” he mumbles, barely even a proper word. 

“Hm?” Yuri asks. 

He hears Yuri shuffle around, hears Potya meow again. 

“Talk to me ‘til I fall asleep?” 

Yuri huffs, half amused, half affectionate. 

“Sure, you sap. Anything in particular you wanna hear?” 

Otabek shakes his head, presses his face into his pillow, tries to keep holding up his phone. 

“No, just…” he starts, then stops to rearrange his thoughts, already fuzzy with the edges of sleep creeping in. “I just like hearing your voice.” 

“Okay,” Yuri says, and he sounds so gentle suddenly, so vulnerable. It makes Otabek smile. 

He lets himself be lulled to sleep by the sound of Yuri’s voice, quiet and soft, and doesn’t notice when his phone finally slips from his grasp. He dreams of days spent together, curled up in bed, whispering sweet nothings and kissing until their lips are numb, dreams of walking together, hand in hand, and the warm summer sun shining down on them.

***

_ Otabek: _ I’ll get on the plane soon, so my phone will be off

_ Otabek:  _ Should probably arrive in St. Petersburg at 1:30 pm if everything goes according to plan

_ Yuri:  _ I’ll pick you up then! 

_ Yuri:  _ ahhh i don’t think i got any sleep last night haha i’m so excited

_ Otabek:  _ Yes, me too. 

_ Yuri:  _ try to get some sleep during the flight

_ Otabek:  _ I’m probably too nervous for that. 

_ Yuri:  _ good nervous or bad nervous? 

_ Otabek:  _ Definitely good nervous :) 

_ Otabek:  _ I gotta go now. See you later, ok? 

_ Yuri:  _ YES! SEE YOU LATER! 

***

When the plane lands in St. Petersburg, there’s not a single cloud in the sky, and the sun is still shining brightly. It’s well and truly summer now, though it’s still not nearly as warm as it was in Almaty when Otabek left this morning. He’s so tired he feels like he could just drop and go to sleep right then and there, despite the brief nap he’d managed to take. But there’s also a restlessness settled deep into his bones, and he knows that’s not going to go away until he actually sees Yuri. 

It takes ages until he can finally get off the plane, and even longer to get through customs, and by the time he has his suitcase back and everything sorted out, he feels like he’s going to jump out of his skin. 

He looks around the arrival zone anxiously. It’s busier than he’d thought, lots of people moving around him. He glances down at his phone again, considers calling Yuri to ask where he is. 

“Beka!” 

The shout makes Otabek jump and look around frantically, and he sees Yuri running towards him at full speed, grinning from ear to ear. He barely has enough time to brace himself before Yuri flings himself at him, almost knocking Otabek to the ground with his enthusiasm. 

His brain just stops for a moment. He doesn’t hear the bustle of the airport around them anymore, or feel the bone-deep exhaustion that comes with long flights. Otabek just wraps his arms around Yuri’s back, and squeezes him as tightly as he can, and just lets himself feel. 

The smell of Yuri’s shampoo is so strong and familiar it makes his eyes burn, and Otabek buries his nose in Yuri’s hair to inhale deeply. He can hear Yuri sniffle a bit, muffled against his neck, and it takes great effort to ignore the lump in his throat and blink away the wetness in his eyes. 

Because. Fuck. 

Seeing Yuri again is absolutely overwhelming in the best kind of way. Otabek hasn’t even had the chance to properly look at him yet, and he wants to, he really wants to, but also, he doesn’t want to let Yuri go, ever. His heart is beating so fast in his chest that it hurts, so hard he’s sure Yuri must feel it with the way they’re pressed against each other. And, shit, he thinks Yuri might be taller than him now, but he can’t tell for sure, because Yuri has his arms and legs wrapped around him in a vice grip. 

“I missed you so much,” Yuri mumbles, and feeling the movement of his lips against his skin makes Otabek feel like he’s burning alive. 

“I missed you too,” Otabek responds, and he gets a few strands of Yuri’s hair into his mouth, because he has his whole face buried in it, but he absolutely does not care right now. 

He grips Yuri tighter, emotions a whirlwind inside of him, a part of him scared that Yuri will just vanish if he lets him go for even a second. 

Otabek knows, acutely, that this bone crushing relief, this seemingly infinite happiness, is temporary. He’s aware that he’s only here for three weeks, that, all too soon, he’ll sit in a plane back to Almaty, and that saying goodbye again will be so fucking hard. He knows he’ll miss Yuri more than he can even put into words, and that it will hurt so much to leave. 

But for now, he doesn’t have to think about that. 

For now, he only has to think about how warm and solid and real Yuri feels in his arms, about the days they’ll spend together, training and talking and laughing and kissing and being so damn happy. 

For now, Otabek has everything he needs. 

**Author's Note:**

> A few brief notes about this story because I put way too much thought into it:  
> \- I think Yuri is probably 17 here but left it purposefully vague. Also Beka and Yuri have been dating for quite a while when the story takes place  
> \- I hope the timeline wasn't too confusing, I imagine this spans the time from around April to AUgust but again, I left it vague on purpose  
> \- Otabek is the sort of person who saves every contact in his phone under their real name, I just know it deep in my heart. He thinks it looks neater that way. Yuri probably had to threaten him so Beka wouldn't save his number as "Yuri Plisetsky". Meanwhile Yuri has him saved as "beka" with a heart, bear and thumbs up emoji  
> \- Yuri makes it sound like Victor dared him to do the backflip, but what actually happened was that Victor said "don't do a backflip on ice that's stupid and dangerous and unnecessary" and Yuri said "don't tell me what to do" and did a backflip  
> \- In the show, only Chris and Victor are able to do a quad Lutz. It's said that Otabek's program are technically very difficult, and I thought that with a few more years of practice, this might be a jump he could attempt but would still be struggling with, and one that Yuri can't do either because it's very difficult (but I don't know much about figure skating, so if I'm completely wrong here, please tell me haha)  
> \- Victor does in fact help Otabek with his quad Lutz, and Otabek doesn't land it consitently, but he does land it when it counts and wins this year's GPF. He probably cries when he wins. Yuri places secons I think.  
> \- Also, the song Otabek wrote for Yuri is something instrumental and sensual, and it's also the music Yuri uses for his short program that year
> 
> So! This was the first time in years I wrote any Otayuri, and I had so much fun with this. It might be the sweetest, softest thing I have written in my life.  
> I hope you enjoyed it! If you want to chat, you can find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/aelandair)!


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